The Chosen and Dearly Beloved
by MsWolfGirl
Summary: Sanctus was defeated, and peace was finally beginning to return. However peace never seems to last. When a new demon is unleashed upon the land, and two strange girls appear, will Dante and Nero be able to defeat this fearsome enemy? or have they finally met their match... DanteXOC NeroXOC
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone! This is my first DmC story, so any constructive criticism is very welcome, but no flames please! I'm writing this story with Springflowerangel who has some awesome stories for DmC as well, so I recommend you check them out too! None of the original DmC characters or anything belong to me, I only own my OCs. I hope you guys like it! Review please! :D**

~Chapter 1~

A tall middle aged man donning pure white robes with gold detailing along the collar and edges wrung his hands nervously as he made his way quickly into a side chamber of the large church recently rebuilt since the defeat of Sanctus several months earlier. The large church remained mostly the same. Dozens of pews formed neat and orderly rows, with aisles decorated with white and cream colored rugs, surrounding a platform in the center that had a large organ settled off to the side to accompany the songs sung by the ever popular Kyrie during the masses.

The man's towering 6'5 muscular build was very unusual for a head priest. His jet black hair was shaggy around his nervous gray eyes and slightly pointed nose. He shook his head to shoo the hair away and searched the church, ensuring that no stragglers were left after today's mass, quickly opening the mahogany door and slamming it shut behind him.

Once he made sure that there was no one in the room, he walked up to the summoning circle he had painstakingly drawn on the floor the night before, shapes littered the circle in chalk, forming an elegant design. He placed the chalice of rum in the middle of the circle as an offering to tempt an appearance out of the demon he was trying to call.

"O great demon duke of hell, grant me your wisdom and power!" The man chanted. The circle on the floor glowed a deep red, becoming too bright for the priest to look at. He shielded his eyes, and once the glowing dulled, he peeked his head out from behind his robes and gasped at the sight before him.

A very large creature stood in the circle, easily 7' tall and extremely well-muscled. The oddity however, was that he had the face of a leopard with surprisingly calm deep red eyes. The leopard spots continued along his arms and down his back, leading down to a tail swaying lazily behind him. He was wearing only a dark tanned loincloth encrusted with jewels and diamonds the priest had never laid eyes on. Large clawed hands gripped the chalice as the creature watched the man with cautious, yet peaceful eyes, taking a swig of the expensive rum.

The man dared not speak until the creature finished the offering. When the beast was finished, he lowered the chalice to the ground and growled to the man, "I am Flauros, Great Duke of Hell. What do you wish to request of me human?"

The priest was shaking with fear as he approached Flauros slowly, gauging his reaction to every movement. The leopard-man let out a deep throaty chuckle and crossed his arms over his chest, his tail swinging with his amusement, "You needn't fear me mortal. I am merely here to hear your request. I wish you no harm. What is your name?"

"M-M-Markus sir…" The priest responded quickly, "I-I-I was h-hoping you could help me…I want power and I need your help to get it." he continued, slowly gaining courage as he spoke, only to revert to his terrified self when Flauros fixed him with a glare and growled.

"Foolish mortals. All any of you wish for is power. If it iss power you seek, you must find the path to it alone. I will help none get something so fickle."

Markus panicked as he saw the great demon beginning to leave. "Wait!" He cried, " I have a parting gift for you, I understand that you may not help on my quest for power, but I wish for you to leave with a favorable opinion of me!" Flauros paused as he watched the man pull an amulet out of his robes. The amulet was a glittering silver color with a deep red ruby as a center piece, intricate lines swooping around the center in a decorative pattern with a beautiful silver chain attached at the top. Flauros was enthralled by its beauty and failed to notice the man slowly making his way forward until after he threw the chain around the demon's neck and the ruby flashed a bright red color.

Flauros roared in pain, gripping his head with one massive hand, ripping at the amulet with the other.

"Foolish human! What have you done to me?" He roared at the priest as his eyes begun to lose focus as they grew cold and hard.

"I have given you the Pandora's Amulet! It was given to me by a man of great wisdom. He said by giving you the amulet, you would be forced to bow to my will!" He smiled as he thought of the great power he would have now that the demon was under his control. Little did he know, Flauros silently made his way behind him, gripping the back of his neck and lifting him off the ground, switching his grip to his throat as he turned him around to face him. He yelped as his feet left the ground and when he looked into the eyes of Flauros, he saw nothing of the calm demon he witnessed at the summoning. The eyes were cold and bloodthirsty, and evil smirk playing on his face as he growled out an evil laugh.

"Hahahaha! Stupid mortal! You have unleashed my dark powers! However I need a body to remain in this world. Hmmm…I think yours will do nicely. Now let us just see what has been going through your head and do away with that pesky soul of yours shall we?"

Flauros forced the priest Markus to make eye contact, as his own eyes searched through his thoughts and memories. He saw in these memories an old pastor telling of a legend of a young girl who possesses a power beyond anything this world has seen. This girl seemed to hail from another world and would appear when she was needed most. There was no image of the girl in the man's memories, but he could tell the man thirsted for this power. _Well, I believe I will just have to take this power for myself._

He proceeded to call the soul out of the human body in his grasp and replace it with his own. Markus struggled against the grip on his throat, slowly suffocating as his captor grinned in malicious amusement. As a last ditch effort as he felt the demon slowly taking over his body, he ripped the amulet from the demon's neck. With a bright flash of red, the demon roared and disappeared. The priest sighed with relief as he struggled to regain his breath, only to scream in pain when a roaring was heard in his head.

_**Disgusting human! What have you done to me! **_Flauros' voice screamed through Markus' head.

Markus gripped his hands against his head as he adjusted to the voice. "I-I have you trapped! Hahaha! Your power belongs to me now!" Markus let out a hysterical laugh as the demon snarled at him in defiance.

_**I will be the slave of no human! **_He fought desperately against the human's remaining soul, trying to gain control of the body. However his soul was still exhausted from the transfer, so he was unable to gain control. He growled in anger, and paced at the base of the man's consciousness…biding his time until he could be fully released.

Markus slowly rose to his feet, feeling the blistering power lingering from the addition of the demon soul to his body. He let loose an evil smile as he confidently walked out of the small room.

"Well. Now that I have power, I have a maiden of legend to find."


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's chapter two! I hope you guys like it! Please review and let me know what you think! Constructive criticism is much appreciated, but no flames please! I do not own DmC or any of its characters, I only own my OC Cora. Kalila belongs to Springflowerangel! The plot is a combination of my ideas as well as Springflowerangels :) I hope you guys enjoy! :)**

Chapter 2

"Wake up sleepy head! We have to get to class!" A tall girl with brown hair landing just beyond her shoulders, emerald eyes and a laughing smile shook the shoulder of her best friend who grumbled at the disturbance and rolled over on the large king size bed she had been sharing with the brunette since her parents left for France on a business trip, covering her head with the blankets.

"Kalila Doll! We have got to get moving so get up!" Kalila found the blankets ripped away and the cold air rushed to bare feet and arms and she shivered as her teeth chattered at the freezing breeze.

"Cora! What the hell! I'm getting up geez!" Kalila groaned as she stretched to her full height of 5'2, her long black hair reaching down to her waist with a single pink streak reaching the whole length of her hair. Her baby blue eyes looked down to her neck, grasping the USB she wore at all times. She loved to research any random thing that piqued her interest, so she always made sure she kept it with her. She made her way into the bathroom to shower and change into her outfit for the day.

When Kalila was in the bathroom to change, Cora changed into her off the shoulder cream colored sweater with a moss green tank top underneath, dark blue skinny jeans and black boots that reached halfway between her ankles and her knees and pulled back her hair into a side braid, the bangs falling out and framing her face. She walked across the room to the little dresser beneath the window facing the backyard where her two sisters were out playing with the family's three dogs, Jasper their german shepherd, Tali a siberian husky and Sorah which was Cora's best friend and a wolf-husky hybrid with a mostly white coat that had light gray fur spread across her back. She chuckled as she opened the small jewelry box on the dresser infront of her and pulled out the bracelet her grandmother gave her before she passed away three years ago. The bracelet was gold with several diamonds hanging off of thin chains at intervals around the bracelet. It was simple in design, yet stunning at the same time. She sighed as she remembered the kind woman she received the bracelet from. A silent tear slipped from her eyes and she quickly wiped it away and regained her composure just as Kalila came out of the bathroom, dressed in her black tank top, jean shorts reaching above her knees and black socks with sneakers. Her USB necklace was tucked safely under her tanktop, only the black cord being visible.

"Well, we have a little time before we have class, I'm gonna go grab a bite to eat, why don't you set up Devil May Cry 4 and we can test it out!" Kalila suggested as she skipped out of the room to head for the kitchen.

"Okay, but call in my sisters and the dogs please!" Cora called back to her friend.

"You got it!"

Cora crossed over to the tv sitting against the wall across from her bed and started it up as well as her PS3. She grabbed the game case from the table the tv rested on and pulled out the game, placing it in the machine and starting it up as she heard footsteps rushing up the stairs.

Kalila ran into the room with a piece of toast in her mouth and a glass of orange juice in her hand. Right on her tail was Cora's other best friend Sorah, who trotted into the room and greeted her master with an excited lick to the face and then curled up next to her, resting her head in her lap.

"Well I guess I know where you're gonna be sitting for the game!" Kalila chuckled and rubbed the wolf-dog's head and received an appreciative grumble of contentment from her. Cora ran her left hand through her pet's soft fur as she watched the opening scene.

Nothing terribly exciting was going on until all of a sudden the fur on the back of Sorah's neck rose as she snarled at the tv, fixing it with a piercing glare. The tv started sparking and the picture went fuzzy. Kalila slowly walked to the other side of Sorah and gripped the fur on her shoulder as the wolf-dog rose to her feet and her growling rose in volume as a voice was heard echoing throughout the room.

_The time of the chosen one has come. Come chosen maiden and protector. It is time to fulfill your destiny._

A loud high pitched screeching noise filled the room as the girls screamed and closed their eyes, covering their ears as their surroundings turned black and they felt themselves falling. Both girls clung desperately to Sorah's fur as they fell.

After what felt like an eternity, the girls felt themselves land softly and opened their eyes to see a forest surrounding them. Cora stood to her feet and brushed off her pants as she turned and looked at Kalila, making sure her friend was still in one piece. She helped her up off the ground and they slowly took in their surroundings. Cora reached over and grabbed her younger friend's right hand with her left and continued to cling to her faithful pet with her right hand. Despite her friend being younger and smaller than her, she was a very comforting presence to Cora. Kalila had a very upbeat personality and was always smiling, which was something Cora relied on regularly to get through the tough days after her grandmother passed away.

Kalila looked to her friend and saw the fear in her eyes. She was as scared as Cora was, and squeezed her hand, hoping to ease both of their nerves.

"Come on, let's try to figure out where we are.." Kalila said nervously. She gave Cora's hand a light tug and they began walking in a random direction.

Cora quickly began to calm down as she focused on the forest around her. She had always loved nature and felt very at home in the woods. She spent hours in the woods behind her house when she was younger to escape from her sisters when they were pestering her…

"Oh my god…my sisters! What will happen to them? My parents aren't going to be home for 2 days! They can't be by themselves! They're only 3 and 5!" Cora began panicking as Kalila spun around and grasped her shoulders and gave her a light shake to get her attention.

"Cora, we have to find a way out of here first. Kimberly will be there any time to clean the house and take care of them. She won't leave them alone, you know that. Let's just focus on getting us out of here for now…" She trailed off as she heard an almost silent crunch of a footstep coming from behind them. Cora and Sorah heard it as well, as the girl spun around and Sorah whipped her head in the direction of the footsteps and growled threateningly.

"Now now puppy, we ain't gonna hurt ya. Just here to help the damsels in distress." A tall man with snow white hair and a long red coat over a black leather shirt, belts wrapping around his muscular chest and dark pants. He wore a cocky smirk on his face as he raised his hands in surrender. On his back was a large sword, and they could see the butts of two handguns in his jacket. Walking out from behind a tree came another man, slightly shorter than the first man but still taller than both girls by at least several inches, with the same snow white hair, but with a dark blue jacket covering a red zip up sweatshirt, dark blue pants and boots. He also had a sword attached to his back and a gun holstered inside his jacket.

At the sight of the weapons both girls backed up slowly, Cora pulling her pet along by her scruff as she continued snarling at the two males.

The younger, shorter seeming of the two took a step forward and called to them, "Wait, we aren't gonna hurt you. But it's not safe here. We need to get you to the village." Though his words were kind, there was no emotion in the words, his eyes cautious.

"Aw come on man! No need to be so serious when we have two babes in front of us just waiting to be rescued!" The cocky one exclaimed as he started bravely striding up to the two girls.

Cora and Kalila backed up until they hit a tree root and fell to the ground, Sorah stood in front of them protectively, growling at the man that dared approach her master and her master's friend.

"Settle down doggie! I mean no harm. Promise." He held his hand out to the wolf-dog and she snapped at it. However when he didn't move away she took a cautious step forward and sniffed his hand. She continued to growl, but much more quietly and she sat on her haunches, watching carefully.

When Cora saw that Sorah trusted the man, despite how little trust there was, she leapt up and grabbed his sleeve, "Please, you have to help us find our house! We have no idea where we are and I need to get to my sisters and-" She was cut off when the red cloaked man covered her mouth with his hand.

"Easy there, we'll figure everything out, but for now come with us. We can't have two beautiful ladies out in the forest all on their own to get eaten by demons can we?" He winked as he helped both girls to their feet and started to walk in the opposite direction.

Kalila gave the men a penetrating stare as she assessed their current situation. Cora, sensing her friend's uneasiness, hesitated and glanced between her and the men. Deciding that there wasn't much she could do to ease her friends nerves, Cora jogged up to the men walking away from them and tugged on the blue clad man's sleeve. He turned as he felt the pull on his arm and looked at her with a blank stare. When his blue eyes locked with the shy girl's scared green ones, his gaze soften slightly. He sighed and turned away. "What."

"What are your names?" Cora asked shyly.

"Ah! How rude! I my dear, am the great Dante the demon hunter, and this punk here is Nero." The red clad man responded, bowing extravagantly. Nero's only respond was to shake his head and continue walking. Dante ignored him and continued, "And what about you babes? Got names?" he grinned flirtatiously.

Kalila bristled at the term 'babe' and crossed her arms in annoyance, choosing to ignore the obnoxious man. Cora however, felt no insult at the derogatory name. "My name is Cora, and this is my best friend Kalila. Sorah is my dog's name." She smiled at the man, who was a little surprised by her friendly response. He was used to getting a rise out of girls when he called them 'babe', whether the rise was yelling at him or giggling and flirting. Kalila snorted at Cora's response and continued walking, the other girl and Sorah following right behind her.

The group continued walking until both girl collapsed to the ground, panting with exhaustion.

"We've been walking for hours…how much longer?" Cora asked as she struggled to lift herself into a sitting position with her legs sprawled in front of her, her arms propped behind her to hold herself up. Kalila was sprawled out on the ground next to her, also trying to catch her breath. "Yeah. We aren't used to this kind of exercise…we can't take another step." She grumbled. Sorah sat on her haunches between the two girls, wagging her tail amusedly at the two girls.

Dante chuckled and Nero sighed as they approached the girls. Kalila looked slightly suspicious of the taller man as he strode up to her and grabbed her arms to pull her up, only to continue with the lift and throw her over his shoulder and continue walking. She squealed in protest and squirmed trying to get away, but Dante merely laughed tightened his grip on the back of her legs to make sure she didn't fall off.

Nero shook his head at the other man and proceeded to slide one arm around Cora's back, and the other beneath her knees and lifted her up, causing her to gasp in surprise and grip the front of his jacket as he followed behind the still protesting girl and her mode of transportation.

Kalila paused her squealing to grumble and shout,

"This day sucks!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello! Sorry for the long delay, I've had terrible writer's block for this story as well as new stories taking up all my time! I know this is a short chapter, but I hope you guys like it!**

**~Disclaimer~ We do not own any part of DmC! I own Cora and Sorah and Kalila belongs to Springflowerangel!**

* * *

After another hour or so of walking and the girls insisting they were capable of walking themselves, Dante and Nero finally put the girls down. Cora was set down gently, while Dante unceremoniously dropped Kalila, resulting in her landing hard on her backside.

"OUCH! What the hell was that for you jerk?" She yelled as she picked herself up and brushed herself off.

Dante smirked and shrugged his shoulders. "You guys insisted on walking yourselves." He continued walking forward and Kalila fumed, stomping behind him. Cora came up beside her and smiled, "Don't let him bother you Kali, I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it." She said reassuringly. Kalila just grumbled and stalked on. Cora then looked down at Sorah, unsure what to do to calm her friend. The dog just wagged her tail and nudged her side for attention.

While Cora was absently petting Sorah's head, Kalila was brainstorming ideas of how to get revenge on Dante for his little stunt. Before she could come up with anything, the four found themselves on the outside of a town. Without a word, Dante and Nero continued walking; ignoring the curious stares the few people walking the streets were giving the two girls.

Sorah growled quietly at the unrelenting stares when she sensed Cora's discomfort. Kalila saw her fidgeting and fixed the people staring at them with her own angry glare. The guys led them to a worn down looking shop with a big, crooked neon sign that said Devil May Cry, random letters flashing. Clearly the shop was not very well taken care of.

Dante kicked the door open and was greeted with the sound of a gunshot and a bullet grazing his cheek. "Now now Lady, is that any way to greet an old friend?" He said to the shadow inside the room. At this point, Cora and Kalila were huddled together behind Nero, who snorted and crossed his arms as he leaned against the doorway. Sorah's fur was bristling and she stood in front of her master, quiet, but cautious.

"Maybe if the so-called 'Old Friend' wasn't an idiot, I'd greet them without a bullet." A woman walked into the light. She had short black hair that flaired out a little below her ears. She wore a white blouse that showed off the bottom of her stomach and buttoned very low, showing off her ample cleavage. She also had a very short skirt that was being held up by a pair of leather suspenders going over her shoulders, and deep red boots that came up to just below her knees. The pistol holster on her left hip was a finishing touch to her outfit. The most striking quality about her however was her eyes. Her right eye was a blue-green color, while her right was a deep red.

Against the wall across from the door was a desk, and leaned against this desk was the largest gun Cora had ever seen. The woman's condescending glare turned into curiosity she took in the two young girls and the very large dog standing behind the two men.

"Who are your friends?" She asked as she smiled at the girls. Cora nervously smiled back while Kalila smirked. She liked this girl already.

"Allow me to introduce you to Cora and Kalila. Babes, this is Lady. A uh, business associate." Lady strode up to the girls and shook their hands firmly before walking around them. Sorah walked back towards the door and sat in front of it, watching the woman with her humans, but listening for danger from outside as well.

"Nice to meet you girls, but what are you doing with this dumbass?" Dante scoffed at her insult and plopped himself down in a large chair behind an enormous wooden desk, swiping a piece of pizza from an old pizza box sitting on the desk. Cora cringed in disgust, but said nothing as she watched him eat the old pizza.

"They found us in the woods. If it weren't for them, we might not be here right now…" Cora trailed off as she thought about some of the things the guys had killed as they walked through the forest earlier. Nero said nothing, just leaned against the wall near the door while he took in the conversation.

"Interesting. It isn't like you to bring in strays Dante." Lady chuckled as she sat on top of the desk.

"Hey!" Kalila cried out indignantly. "No offense of course." Lady said apologetically. Kalila huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Crazy I know, but with all that religious banter going around and two strange girls just happen to appear right after that riot? No way it's a coincidence. These may be them." Dante said seriously.

Cora was very confused at this point. "We may be who exactly?" She said tentatively, not sure if she actually wanted to know.

"It's a long story doll. Let's just say as soon as the crazy church people find out you're here, you'll want to be far, far away." He said grimly.


End file.
